Cook County prosecutors intend to pursue a criminal contempt case against a former Cook County judge who has been accused in civil filings and an attorney discipline complaint of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bank accounts of an elderly man, an assistant state’s attorney told a judge Thursday morning.
Patricia Martin, who stepped down as presiding judge in the child protection division in 2020, was the subject of a fraud complaint filed May 31 by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, which handles allegations of lawyer misconduct. It alleged that she stole from Oscar Wilkerson, an elderly man she was tasked with assisting financially and using the funds for her own purposes, including buying cryptocurrency.
Lawyers for Wilkerson also filed a lawsuit against Martin last year, which remains pending, though Cook County Judge Anna Demacopoulos in May ordered a default judgment of more than $1.1 million due to Martin’s “continued unresponsiveness” to court orders after Martin failed to appear in court after being warned that noncompliance with the case could result in sanctions, including a default judgment.
Martin, though, appeared in court Thursday via Zoom with her lawyer, Matthew Chivari.
Chivari told the Tribune he expects Martin “will be vindicated.” He said he is moving to get the default judgment against her dismissed.
“We don’t see any basis for her being held in contempt let alone charged with that,” Chivari said.
Attorneys for Wilkerson, a Tuskegee Airman who died in February, in May filed a petition seeking to hold Martin in criminal contempt of court orders that mandated that she participate in the case filed against her and not move any more of Wilkerson’s funds.
The petition for indirect criminal contempt alleged that Martin has failed to appear in court and moved more money after she was ordered not to by the judge.
At Thursday’s hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Jeremy Bergstrom told Demacopoulos the office intends to prosecute Martin on the criminal contempt matter, which could come with criminal penalties.
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It would be a separate proceeding from the lawsuit, and Bergstrom said the office needs a few weeks to file the petition.
In a motion filed Monday, Wilkerson’s attorneys wrote they have “made efforts to engage law enforcement in this matter.” In January, the lawyers sent letters to the Illinois attorney general’s office, the FBI and other agencies, according to the motion.
They received calls from the attorney general’s office and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office “to discuss the next steps,” the motion said. The FBI informed the lawyers it would not be pursuing the matter.
Also on Monday, Martin responded to the attorney discipline complaint, requesting that the Illinois Supreme Court strike her name from the state’s roll of attorneys, meaning she would no longer be able to practice law in Illinois.
The issue dates back to November 2020, when a doctor who held a power of attorney for Wilkerson recommended the man move to an elder care facility and asked Martin, the niece of the man’s former spouse, to help the doctor manage the man’s financial affairs, according to the attorney discipline complaint.
Martin said yes and agreed to use the man’s funds only for his own benefit, but then proceeded to transfer large amounts of money out of his accounts and use the funds for her own purposes.
